Less than three years ago, after posting a 5.67 ERA as a middling reliever, the Yankees traded away Nestor Cortes to the Mariners for cash considerations.
Fast forward to Monday, and after 7.1 shutout innings, the Yankee lefty holds the best ERA (1.41) in all of baseball among pitchers who have made at least five starts this season.
How has Cortes, a 5-foot-11 southpaw who averages a fastball below 91 mph, made such a sudden and drastic ascent?
Even Cortes himself can’t give a clear answer, but only knows that baseball was always his sole focus, and at last, his refusal to consider any alternative has turned him into one of the game’s must-watch pitchers.
“I've been playing baseball since I was four,” Cortes said. “I feel like that’s the only thing I know how to do. Coming out of high school, I don't have anything to fall back on so I'm just going to ride this as long as I could.”
Cortes, who rode baseball to a spot in the Yankee rotation last near and now among the league’s best this year, nearly rode that drive and determination to a no-hitter on Monday, losing it with one out in the eighth inning. Aaron Boone was going to let his starter go until history was lost, and Cortes was ready to do that, but was feeling the comedown once he exited to a loud ovation from the scarce Monday afternoon crowd.
“Honestly, I felt pretty good going out in the eighth...body felt good,” Cortes said. “When the emotions and adrenaline is rushing everything feels great, but now I feel like I got hit by a truck.”
Whatever Cortes was hit with last year, he has rode that momentum, and a flashy new cutter with some help from CC Sabathia, to new heights in 2021, a level not many could have ever saw coming.
Even if Cortes didn’t see it coming himself, he knew baseball was a part of his future, so he stuck with the only thing he knew. It has paid off big time in 2022.
“Thankfully, it started clicking last year,” Cortes said. “Hopefully, I can continue to do it.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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